


Yesterday

by sharkchunks



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, vomit warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-19
Updated: 2016-01-19
Packaged: 2018-05-14 23:06:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5762401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sharkchunks/pseuds/sharkchunks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Illness falls upon a hero. Marinette has to learn to cope with it.</p><p>(Unedited oneshot. Adrien angst; you've been warned.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Yesterday

**April**

...

**Sunday**

Chat Noir is sick. It's evident by the fact that he's just thrown up on her candy-pink carpet. Half-digested cookies and croissants stain the plush flooring,a mess Marinette has to clean up herself.

She's not mad at him. Why would she be? He's ill and it's not his fault.

For now,he rests on her chaise. His head is tilted to the side while he sleeps. She observes his golden hair,now matted from lying down. He makes a gurgling sound before rolling over onto his side.

Without any warning,he throws up again.He tries to hide it,but he's started to cry.

"Sorry," he murmurs,barely a whisper under his heaving breaths.

She can't say that she isn't worried about him.

...

**Monday**

"Nino,are you sure he's not coming?"

He nods. "Yeah,Adrien told me he's out sick with a bug. His dad doesn't want him spreading whatever he has,so his photoshoots are cancelled for the rest of the week."

Well,there goes trying to hunt him down at his next session.

At least Alya's here to accompany Marinette. She'll speak with Adrien tomorrow.

...

**Wednesday**

Adrien comes over to play video games today. He's dressed in absurdly comfortable clothing,a black sweatshirt and green pajama pants.

They're having fun. Marinette loves doing this. It makes her feel more comfortable around him,it makes her feel like he's family. She thinks he might feel that way too.

His eye starts to twitch mid-battle,and his fingers become jittery at the touch of the controller in his hands. He pauses the game.

"Marinette,I need to use the restroom."

"Okay,take your time."

She thinks nothing of it. When she looks back,noticing that he's holding his arm against his mouth,she starts to think a lot of it. She freaks out a little bit when she hears him coughing from downstairs. The sounds of his sickness are discomforting to say the least.

Then he comes back,and he smiles at her. He acts like he wasn't getting sick. He continues to play,laughing when Marinette defeats him.

"You got me!" He chuckles.

Marinette is silent.

...

**Friday**

He's not here.

Five days in a row,a whole week,and Adrien Agreste did not show up.

"I heard he caught the plague."

"He's cutting class for laughs."

"He moved schools or something."

These are the words that are spoken of him behind his back. They sicken Marinette,bile rising in her throat,irritated that people would accuse their friend for such things.

Come to think of it,Chat Noir hadn't visited her the whole week,either. Adrien was vomiting when he visited. So was Chat. Neither had been seen anywhere for a whole week.

It clicks.

She laughs manically.

**May**

...

**Tuesday**

The pressure is on at this time of year. Frantic studying for finals,all-nighters that are,all in all,never worth the results.

Adrien was pulled out of school. He won't be coming back. That's what Ms.Bustier had told the class.

Kim called him a drop-out.

Rose was crying into Juleka's shoulder, for reasons Marinette felt concerned about.

Nino didn't speak to anybody for the rest of the day.

The class was full of rumors and lies,words of worry and interest. The afternoon is over now,though, so Marinette can put all that behind her.

She gets home. Her parents ask her how Adrien is doing,and if he'll be visiting again. She tells them she doesn't know for sure the answer to either questions. They tell her they love her,and she climbs the trap-door to her bedroom.

A figure clad in leather is curled up on her bed.

The floor is covered in liquified pastries.

...

**Wednesday**

The day before,she didn't ask him why he was in her house. She didn't ask him why he didn't book it for the balcony and throw up over the side. She didn't ask him any of those things.

Chat's illness had lasted too long for it to be a simple "bug" anymore. Adrien's illness had lasted too long for it to be a simple "bug" anymore. She doesn't know who to address him as at this point.

Marinette wants to ask him herself.

So,tonight,while she listens to him cackle about the Akumas he and Ladybug fought prior to his sickness,she stops him.

"Chat Noir,I want to ask you something."

He smiles. "Sure,I'm not stopping you."

"Should I call you _Chat_ or _Adrien_?"

Chat's face goes red. His eyes are as big as he can get them to be. He jolts up from lying down on the chaise,eyes focused on hers.

A few moments of silence pass.

"Both," he says.

"You can call me both,too." Marinette explains.

Tikki comes out of hiding. She scolds Marinette for having such an unplanned reveal.

In the midst of it all,Chat passes out then and there.

...

**Monday**

Ever since that day,Chat hasn't been keen on arriving at Marinette's balcony. For one,he can't. He's too weak to perform that kind of parkour anymore. So he visits Marinette as Adrien.

**June**

...

**Saturday**

He comes over again. He's...different. His skin is drained of its color,his hair is unusually messy. He's wrapped in a poncho,a _poncho_ of all things,and there are tears welling in his eyes,even though neither of the two have spoken a single word yet.

He's holding a plate of cookies,probably from her parents,yet every one remains untouched. Usually he'd have eaten four or five by the time he got up. He sets them on Marinette's desk,waiting for any sign of a rising conversation.

Marinette decides to put the games away today.

He's confused. The bewildered look,combined with his now frail figure,makes him look more lost than ever.

"Don't you want to...hang out?"

She nods. "Yes. I do."

"Okay,then-"

"Adrien,what's wrong with you?"

He frowns,then his lips curl upwards slightly. "I'm,uh,sick. I told you that."

"Adrien you've refused every piece of food my parents try to give you,ever though you look _starving_. Everytime you open your mouth you need to run to the bathroom."

Adrien refuses to make eye contact. He hides the pools of emerald under his blond hair. 

"Talk to me."

At first,he doesn't say anything.

"Please."

Then he spills.

"I...I don't want to scare you. They said that it has something to do with my kidneys. It..."

She waits.

"It's terminal. Three more months."

Quiet. Quiet. The sound of a broken voice trying to hold in a cry for help. He starts to sob,reaching out with a beckoning hand for her to comfort him.

Marinette wraps her arms around him,letting his tears dribble down his cheeks and onto her shirt. His hiccups blend with his wailing, digits clenched between soft fabric.

She doesn't know what this feels like. To be told you have a limited amount of time to live. Yet she cries with him,tears welding together in a cluster of grief. In three months he'll be gone. His father would lose his only son. She would lose her partner. Paris will lose a hero. 

**June**

...

**Thursday**

Adrien bids the Kwami farewell. The little black cat says goodbye to Tikki. Then he leaves,Adrien's ring clutched in his tiny paws.

Marinette goes walking with him.

They stare at the display windows in awe,trinkets that they don't need but definitely want. He buys her a tiny pin in the shape of a black cat. She buys him one shaped like a ladybug. He starts to cry.

He doesn't go home that night. He stays with her. She stays with him. They become one with each other.

The next morning,he hugs her and leaves,taking a slice of cake from Marinette's father before he walks out. She knows it'll go untouched.

He thanks them for it anyways.

...

 

**Friday**

Adrien doesn't come over. He isn't feeling up to it. An emergency came up and she would have to see him at the hospital.

...

**Saturday**

The cold,arid room bites at her shoulders. It isn't welcoming.

Yet,when she sees the largest smile she's ever seen directed at her,the room lights up.

He has a tube feeding him,a white gown draped around his body. His arms are held out,waiting for an embrace.

She gives him one.

He shakes the cup of ice by his bedside,crunching on the pieces while watching a documentary about Ladybug and Chat Noir.

"I had fun with you then," he says, a faint grin appearing. "I hope you did too."

"I definitely did. I miss battling with you. Things were so much easier at the time."

A nurse walks in and asks her to leave. Adrien has to follow his curfew. She does so.

...

**July**

...

**Monday**

"Please don't tell anybody else. Make up an excuse. I want my identity to remain secret to the public."

She nods.

That day,when she's out fighting the akuma,things are harder than they would've been with Chat by her side. He's not there to provide his cataclysm,his fencing skills, or a rear-end guard.

When she's interviewed at the end of battle,sore and out of breath,her legs turn into jelly. A microphone is shoved in her face,flashes of light spot her vision.

"Ladybug,where exactly is Chat Noir?" A reporter asks.

The mic pressed against her lips is nerve-wracking. What she's about to say counts immensely. It'll affect history in a great way. She thinks.

"My partner is deceased."

A gasp amongst the crowd. Crying and sobbing from people who he saved,who never really knew him but still knew all about him.

"His new wielder will show up shortly. He told me that serving Paris was an honor,that the people deserved every last bit of fight he had left in him. He told me to make sure the new Chat Noir takes good care of you all."

Silence.

"He told me that Paris was the family he never had."

When she returns home,Adrien is smiling. He hugs her tightly,he kisses her. "Thank you," he sighs.

"You're welcome," she whispers into his neck.

...

**Wednesday**

He's too sick to walk around anymore. The hospital issued a wheelchair and an IV for him.

Sabine wheels him into the house,Marinette has to hang out with him downstairs. It's all right with her,the television is bigger than the one in her room,anyways.

"Marinette,I want to ask you something."

She smiles,taking her eyes off of the TV for a moment.

"Yeah?"

"You told me about six months ago...that I was the most incredible person you knew. As Adrien,that is. You told me,as Chat,that I was-" he laughs,"-the dorkiest person you knew."

She can't grasp where he's going with this.

"What do you think of me now?"

She stares at him for a few moments. His thinned face,his jaded,green eyes. The wild hair that's more Chat-like than usual,the tubes attached inside his nose.

"I think that you're the strongest person I know."

He closes his eyes,exhales. He opens them. "Very well."

Tom hands the fragile boy a glass of ice water. He takes the glass carefully,hands trembling when they come in contact with the chilled surface.

"Thank you," he whispers,setting the glass onto the coffee table.

It's the thought that counts.

...

**Saturday**

Today Adrien stopped breathing.

She thought he had fallen asleep. His head lolled to the side,his eyes were half-closed. Then he started to choke.

The ambulance arrived in a short span of time.

She isn't allowed to go with him.

"He'll be alright."

"He's going to be fine."

She knows he won't be. When the vehicle becomes a speck of white in a horizon of blue,she knows he's out of her reach forever.

...

**August**

...

**Tuesday**

Adrien doesn't visit. He texts her and explains that his father wants to spend the possible last days of his son's life with him. He'd held off all trips and photoshoots until Saturday. He wants to be there with him for as long as he can before he's gone.

How ironic.

...

**Friday**

She never gets to see him again. She can't bear to even look at the pictures of him that she's kept. She scrolls through the endless lines of texts through her phone, exchanges between them.

_I love you._

_I can't wait to see you._

_What did it really mean to you?_

Words that have no meaning anymore. The service is tomorrow.

The casket will be open.

...

**Saturday**

Today she cries.

His expression is lifeless,yet he's smiling.

He's dressed in a suit handmade by his father. The ladybug pin is hidden under his collar,standing out against white and black. She squeezes the black cat pin in her coat pocket.

A woman with her hair pulled up walks up to Marinette. Her eyes are red and watery. She holds out a string of beads.

The lucky charm she gave to Adrien.

"He told me to give this back to you."

She takes it,holds it to her chest. Years worth of memories flash past her thoughts.

She gives it back,causing the woman to give a questioning glance.

"I want him to keep it."

Before he's buried,the charm glints in the afternoon sun. His hair does too,almost in sync.

The service ends after the casket is covered with dirt and earth.

...

**Monday**

Marinette's parents allow her to miss school today. They let her mourn. Tikki gives her some space. She says it's not healthy to force somebody to be happy,so she lets her cry,too.

Marinette almost expects a bright,cheery, blond-headed boy to burst through her door. She imagines him scooping her up,twirling her around,laughing. She expects him to pick up the game controller,give her a kiss,start to devour the pastries her parents leave out for the two of them.

She expects a nightly visit from a certain black cat. She expects him to whisper sweet nonsense into her ear. She expects him to crack jokes,to dance around with her. She expects him to wrap his arms around her,to make her feel like she's melting at his touch.

It won't happen,of course. It never will. It'll never be the same person. She closes her eyes,burying her head in her bedsheets.

She still smells him on the fabric. She observes how her desk chair has tiny clusters of green fibers stuck to it. Her carpet up here and on the floor is still stained. It's like he's left little fragments of himself around her room.

Marinette decides to gaze out the window. A black cat sits on the sill. Before it leaps away,she swears it says _I love you_. She smiles.

He is at peace.


End file.
